jackwener/OpenCLI · warning · ArgumentError

${label} cannot be empty

Error message

${label} cannot be empty

What it means

resolveOptionalFilePath treats a provided path argument as optional: undefined/null/empty string returns ''. But if a non-empty raw value is given whose trimmed form is empty (e.g. whitespace-only), it throws ArgumentError with the parameter's label. This catches shell quoting accidents where a flag was passed but the value collapsed to whitespace.

Source

Thrown at clis/twitter/archive.js:14

import fs from 'node:fs';
import path from 'node:path';
import { ArgumentError, CommandExecutionError } from '@jackwener/opencli/errors';

// Safety cap only. Full-archive runs can set a higher page budget via --max-pages.
export const DEFAULT_MAX_PAGINATION_PAGES = 100;
const HARD_MAX_PAGINATION_PAGES = 100000;

export function resolveOptionalFilePath(raw, label) {
    if (raw === undefined || raw === null || raw === '')
        return '';
    const value = String(raw).trim();
    if (!value)
        throw new ArgumentError(`${label} cannot be empty`);
    return path.resolve(value);
}

export function ensureParentDir(filePath) {
    if (!filePath)
        return;
    fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(filePath), { recursive: true });
}

function removeFile(filePath) {
    if (!filePath)
        return;
    try {
        fs.rmSync(filePath, { force: true });
    }
    catch {
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 49907e53dc)

Solutions

1. Check the value passed to --resume-file/--output-file is a real non-blank path
2. In shell, quote variables and guard: ${OUTPUT_FILE:?unset}
3. Omit the flag entirely if you do not want a file — the helper returns '' for absent values
4. echo the constructed command line to see what the flag actually received

Example fix

// before
node cli.js twitter archive --resume-file "$RESUME_FILE"
// after
node cli.js twitter archive ${RESUME_FILE:+--resume-file "$RESUME_FILE"}

function safePathArg(v) {
  if (v === undefined || v === null) return '';
  const s = String(v).trim();
  return s || null; // null signals 'flag passed but blank — fix before calling'
}

function isNonEmptyPath(v) { return typeof v === 'string' && v.trim().length > 0; }

try {
  await archiveCmd(kwargs);
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof ArgumentError && err.message.includes('cannot be empty')) {
    console.error('A path flag was passed with a blank value — check shell variables');
  } else throw err;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing --resume-file or --output-file with a value that is only whitespace after String(raw).trim() — e.g. --output-file " " or an unquoted shell variable that expands to spaces.

Common situations: Unset environment variables quoted in shell ($OUTPUT_FILE expanding to ''), copy-paste artifacts, or scripts building CLI args with empty variables.

Related errors

• ${label} is required
• ${label} must be a positive integer
• ${label} must be <= ${maxValue}
• dblp ${label} must be a positive integer
• dblp ${label} must be <= ${maxValue}

AI-assisted analysis of jackwener/OpenCLI@49907e53dc (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a4146e4fb6cf241c. Report an issue: GitHub.